[Mixed Tech] - Given Technology vs Captured Technology

posted on August 21st, 2011, 1:42 am

Here's an idea I just thought of for some mixed tech stuff.  When allied with an alien faction, that faction will not give you access to all of it's technology.  But if you are enemies with the said faction, you could attempt to capture tech that would otherwise be unavailable to use from just being allies with that faction.  This would require a complete mixed tech redo, which I believe is already underway, but it will require research stations researching individual technologies.  Captured research stations would allow you to refit certain vessels with technology that would never be available through allying yourself with that faction.  But that technology would already have to be researched in order for it to be captured and put onto your ships.

For example, the Federation could ally itself with the Romulans and gain cloak and a couple of extra goodies.  If the Federation captures say, a Romulan cloak station, you gain even more ship types with cloaking ability than just 1.  And if you gain a research station that has researched phase plates and auto-repair, well, the Federation always seems to like defensive enhancing technology.  They could integrate the phase plates into their Sabers or Monsoons, and maybe integrate the Auto-Repair into all of their support ships.

PS:
I am actually unfamilior with mixed tech since I never use it, so I'm not sure if the example actually gains anything from capturing a station vs alliances.  Well, I know that they gain extra cloak, but that's it.

posted on August 21st, 2011, 5:20 pm

This could be really cool, but it would get pretty complicated (i.e., many more odf's).  I can almost imagine having a matrix for every ship you build, the way the borg work.  Every time you capture an enemy ship, a new weapon or ability can be selected in the build process (or a defense against it)...  If nothing else, at least speaking for the Feds, a cloaking device could replace whatever special weapon the ship otherwise would have had as a trade off.  In the end, though, doesn't this just turn all of the races into Borg assimilators?

posted on August 21st, 2011, 7:01 pm

Not really.  And it won't require so many ODFs if the research stations could utilize the extraWeapon command.  You would "fire" a "torpedo" at the ship that you want to have the new weapon (with lots of resource costs).  The "torpedo" would hit the ship and give it the desired weapon.  And it would somewhat require the maxExtraWeapons in the ship ODF files to be lowered from 10.  After all, you wouldn't want a Saber with Metaphasic Disruptors, Silent Revolve, Antimatter Mines, Cloak, Ion Storm, Transwarp, High Energy Slicer, Auto-Repair, Ionizing Torpedo, and Chain Reaction Charges at the same time that Hyper Impulse Drive is active, would you?

Besides, the stations would have to give you the technology with a resource cost, plus, you have to manage to capture and hold the station.  The Borg would just assimilate the technology straight from the ship before assimilating the ship itself or destroying it and could easily transfer the weapon to other ships with only special energy costs from the vessel taking the weapon.  Why take the station if you can just take it directly from the ship.

posted on August 25th, 2011, 3:53 am

I say add refit buttons for ships that don't appear until you capture the ship/station needed AND do whatever research is needed.

Then make capturing ships give you the ability to send it to a " R&D " station for research (like the special weapon assimilator in vanilla A2) where it's studied and you steal an ability or weapon, and if you capture a station you can research (at the station itself) some techs from that race based on what the station was, at that point you gain multiple abilties.

posted on August 30th, 2011, 5:52 am

I Agree with Tok"ra  Give them refit buttons  for abilities captured  from  game opponent with the ability to  refit . if you capture the nessary stations and research the needed abilities. Or you have captured  your oppoinent's constructor .If a  captured research station is not available , you can have built  a nessary one  , but at a higher construction  cost and time .